Quick quizzes reveal Spain players’ secrets

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If you wanted to find out some intimate details about the Spain team competing at Euro 2012 you could do a lot worse than read the series of quickfire interviews published over the past few weeks in El Pais daily.

Bombarded with questions like how much do you spend each month on petrol, who is Lech Walesa, how often does coach Vicente del Bosque trim his moustache and how much did goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas weigh when he was born, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and their team mates come up with some interesting and revealing answers.

We also learn that Casillas spends 200 euros ($250) a month on petrol and Fabregas around 150, while Manchester City forward Silva says he doesn’t know how much but that “it’s very expensive” in England.

The players are also asked why the Spanish government is “rescuing the banks and forgetting about ordinary people”, a reference to the bailout the European Union has agreed to provide Spanish lenders.

“I suppose because they are the foundation of the economy but they would do better if they focused more on people,” Fabregas replies.

“That’s a question for the government,” Torres says.

As far as Del Bosque’s walrus-like moustache goes, Fabregas says the 61-year-old clips it “whenever he makes a decision” and Torres suggests it gets a trim “every four months”.

Del Bosque himself has the last word on the matter, telling the paper: “I give it a little snip every now and then.”

Asked about food shopping, he adds: “I haven’t been for a long time. And I used to enjoy it so much!”

Reserve goalkeeper Pepe Reina, known as something of a team jester, provides one of the most amusing responses when asked about Casillas’s birth weight.

“With the size of his head he must have weighed a lot,” the Liverpool stopper says.